Captain's Choice blog: Lovely St. Michaels - "Town that fooled the British"

The battle of St. Michaels occurred during the War of 1812. After the British Royal Navy was easily defeated at Croney Island and Norfolk, a frustrated admiral George Cockburn moved up the Chesapeake Bay. The shipyards at the small town of St. Michaels became an inviting target. The British advanced on the harbor expecting an easy victory. Instead, they were outwitted by a clever group of townspeople who dimmed the lights in their houses and hung lanterns in trees beyond the town, causing the British gunners to overshoot the town and its defenses. Due to this successful defense, St. Michaels has thereafter been known as the "Town that fooled the British." We had a great time here and loved it! St. Michaels is one of our favorite so far on the Chesapeake!

Wednesday the 25th, was suppose to be the "better" travel day, but better as compared to what? It was low wind, some drizzle and we didn't have far to go, just 29 miles to an anchorage in San Domingo Creek on the backside of St. Michaels. The Chesapeake has many rivers and the rivers have many creeks and waterways which makes for beautiful scenery and lots of areas to explore. We stopped briefly at Oxford to take on fuel and water for our 6 nights of anchoring. With the memorial day weekend approaching we had heard this was a popular anchorage and wanted to get a prime spot, which we did. Pretty good protection from the winds in 6' of water, good holding with a 2 1/2' tide swing. No other boats when we got there and one sailboat later in the day (over the weekend we had at least 20 at the anchorage). Ospreys, heron, geese and birds singing...it was wonderful!

Around 2:30 a.m. Thursday the winds were howling and it wasn't just raining it was pouring. We checked on the anchor, all was secure, we checked the weather sites after we woke up and there had been gusts in the 25+ range. We check about 4 different weather sites and it amazes us that each one is different...eenie, meanie, miney, mo...I like to think the most positive one is the best but we know that's not what happens. The wind forecast from Wind Finder is usually the most accurate and Thursday's looked pretty good until early evening. We headed into St. Michaels knowing we had to be back to the boat as the t-storms and rain were suppose to materialize around 5:30 p.m. St. Michaels is a really cute town and we were looking forward to going back Friday when there was only a chance of rain forecasted. When we headed back to the boat we saw another boat with a looper flag, it was Mike and Maria from Aqua-Fennatic, whom we had not seen in months. We stopped and chatted and arranged to go into St. Michaels Friday with them. Once back to the boat I said to Mark "there is no way its going to get nasty out, the sun had been out and it was beautiful"...then the clouds came rolling in and by 6 p.m. we had hail, lightening, thunder and pouring rain. So much for my optimistic forecast, although I am about as accurate as the weathermen.

Another windy day on Friday but at least the sun was shining and we had a chance of hitting 77, which is suppose to be the average temperature for this time of year. It never got to 77 but we had a wonderful day exploring the town. We met up with Mike and Maria and spent the better part of the day at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Tip - if you ever plan on doing a few museums in this area - get the family annual pass. They reciprocate with many of the museums and it will definitely save you money, which we wish we had known before.
Every museum has something different to offer and this one was fantastic with their displays of oystering, working boatyard, lighthouse, etc. set on a beautiful 18 acre waterfront. After the museum we headed over to Eastern Shore Brewing, where we each found a favorite local brew. Dinner at Ava's Pizzeria and then a walk along the waterfront marinas. Mark and I had walked the docks prior to going to the museum, not any boats - we were shocked when we rounded the corner and the marina was full. We sat and listened to a one man band at Foxy's - he mixed his songs with some comedy and had us laughing. Last stop before heading back to the boats before sunset was Muskrat Park where they were having a free concert.

We headed back to town with Mike and Maria Saturday morning and walked the 1.5 mile trail that is displaying 5 art pieces that won a competition earlier this spring. They headed back to the boat before the rain started again, we ducked into a restaurant, went into a few more shops and stopped at the distillery for a tour before heading back to the boat. It was on and off rain for the rest of the night.

Everyday seems to contain a little bit of rain and Sunday was no different. We set out for a dinghy exploring ride in the afternoon and got back to the boat just as the skies opened up. It was just after fellow loopers Karen and Scott on Last Call dropped anchor, they promised they did not bring the rain with them. Around 4:30 p.m. the rain subsided and Aqua-Fennatic, Last Call and us headed for town...dinner, drinks and great conversation.

The boats in the anchorage started heading out early Monday and I told Mark by the end of the night there will probably only be the 3 of us... I think there might have been 4. The sun came out and it was a beautiful day, Mark even went for a swim. We ended the night meeting up on Aqua-Fennatic to go over some other anchorages and pick each others brains on recommendations they had gotten from fellow loopers.

Tuesday both Last Call and Aqua-Fennatic headed to an anchorage near Annapolis and we headed 12 miles to a marina at Tilghman Island, Tilghman-on-Chesapeake. It's a very nice marina with floating docks, complimentary laundry and a pool dubbed the "best on the Chesapeake." Once again the weather didn't cooperate so neither of us went swimming. We did get a bike ride in and checked out the main street and all of the fishing boats in town.